When was the last time you had a good night’s sleep? Do you find it difficult to fall asleep at night, only to struggle to stay awake in the day? When your head touches your pillow, it’s as if your mind does not want to cooperate with you. You stare at the ceiling as you worry about the past and future. After what feels like eternity, you jolt awake in the middle of the night. You lie back in bed and slowly start a silent countdown to the time your alarm rings for you to get up.

If the above scenario sounds familiar, you are not alone. I have experienced it countless times and was often frustrated when I didn’t get a good night’s sleep. It affected my energy levels and mood the next day. If sleep is so essential and we do it every day, why aren’t we experts on it by now?

You’ve probably heard a lot of advice around dealing with insomnia. A few of these ‘scientifically-proven’ methods include listening to music, reading, meditating and avoiding caffeine to get yourself to fall asleep at night. You also know not to use any electronic devices right before going to bed. (And you abide by these habits occasionally.)

Despite your efforts to follow these recommendations, you are still unable to get sufficient rest at night. It could be because your mind is hyperactive when it is time for you to sleep, you wake up frequently during the night, or both.

After trying out these different methods, I found out that a few stood out to me. They were not as frequently talked about, yet were effective for me. I’d like to share with you 3 simple tips for you to implement tonight, especially if you have trouble sleeping.

Journal and Write Down Your Thoughts

Oftentimes, we go to bed with our mind still buzzing from the day. When it is time for bed, your mind is replaying scenes from memories, or thinking about future activities.

When you notice your brain going into hyperactive mode, write down all the thoughts that are going through your mind in that moment. It is similar to doing a stream-of-conscious journaling where you let your pen flow and not stop writing until whatever is on your mind is in ink in front of you. It could be words of frustration, excitement, regrets, ideas, things you are worried about, or any resistance you feel towards sleeping.

Your mind will tend to become clearer and have more mental space for you to relax. You don’t have to worry about remembering to do something as you have already noted it down so you can look at it in the morning.

Once I journaled my thoughts out onto my notebook, I understood why I couldn’t fall asleep. There were so many things I had to remember and think about – no wonder I had trouble falling asleep.

You can actually apply this tip whenever you are feeling anxious or distracted throughout the day as well. It would help clear your mind and find out why you are behaving a certain way towards a situation.

Visualise Your Ideal Day

Do you find yourself going to bed later than you expected because of the number of activities you want to do before the day ends? You feel as if there is never enough hours in a day and struggle to complete all the things you had planned to do. (I can relate to this!)

There is a term for this, which is called ‘Revenge Bedtime Procrastination’. It comes about when you don’t feel like you have control of your time during the day so you attempt to make up for it by staying up late. You are then sleep-deprived the following day and continue to struggle with following through with your plans with whatever energy you have left. You try to make up for not doing these activities in the day by doing them at night instead, and the cycle repeats.

“Where we think we need to keep doing more is often where we actually need to rest.”

Lisa Olivera

In order to break this cycle, visualise your ideal day before falling asleep. How would you like your mornings to begin? What activities would bring you joy throughout the day? Who are you with? How would you end the day? Be as specific as possible.

When you visualise your ideal day, it gives your sub-conscious mind an avenue to feel that sense of joy and fulfilment. Eventually, you might even begin to carry out these activities in your waking state.

It also helps to think of the night as a ‘fresh start’. When you view the night as if it is already the start of the next day, you tend to make decisions that would help you sustain that energy in the long run.

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Tapping

EFT involves using your fingers to repeatedly tap at specific parts of your body. You can use this video as a guide if you are unsure of the process.

The night before my exam results were released, I couldn’t fall asleep. I was tossing and turning in bed for a whole hour. I decided to do a tapping exercise and repeated the affirmations out loud. (You can whisper them if you are sharing a room with someone.) I realised that I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to sleep, and didn’t acknowledge how I was feeling. Once I completed the tapping and sent love and kindness to myself, I could finally fall asleep.

In fact, last month, when my grandmother had trouble sleeping at night, I recommended her to try tapping. When she did it, she could feel her mind and body relax, and asked me why I didn’t tell her about this earlier.

The next time you notice yourself resisting sleep, try one of these 3 simple tips. There are also many other methods to help you sleep better, such as exercising and using calming scents like lavender. Each method might work better for you in different situations, so feel free to experiment and see which one is best suited for you.

Do you have any other tips for sleep? Let me know in the comments below!